Abrasive hand covering

ABSTRACT

A hand covering or glove having a flexible two-piece body with a plurality of discrete abrading units disposed on the hand covering to permit free flexing thereof. Each abrading unit is a discrete one-piece molded synthetic organic resin member with an abrasive front surface and a smooth rear surface secured to the front piece of the two-piece hand covering. Preferably, the two-piece hand covering is secured at the periphery thereof by heat sealing and the abrading units are also heat sealed to the front piece of the construction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gloves having abrasive material thereon are not in and of themselvesnew, but each glove which has appeared on the market, for one reason orthe other, has not been satisfactory, for both use by the housewife topeel potatoes, carrots and the like, and for heavier duty uses such asabrading paint, scouring pans and the like, while permitting completeflexibility of the glove. Representative of the prior art devices is theglove disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,459,985, issued Jan. 25, 1949 to C.H. Woodbury for HAND COVERING. The Woodbury device shows a glove inwhich the entire finger, palm and substantially the entire thumb portionof the glove is covered by an abrasive material which while effective toabrade certain objects results in a stiff unwieldy, non-flexible gloveand is unsatisfactory for handling smaller items such as carrots,potatoes and the like.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,050,738 issued Aug. 28, 1962 to A. W. Rytina for GLOVE,discloses a glove in which the glove fabric is a mixture of plastisoland elastomer flock dispersed therein. The flock disclosed in the Rytinapatent is insufficiently hard and sharp for use in heavy duty jobs suchas scouring pots, pans and abrading paint. The Rytina glove like theWoodbury glove is clumsy and relatively inflexible. U.S. Pat. No.3,643,386 issued Feb. 22, 1972 to Grzyll for ABRASIVE HAND APPAREL,discloses a glove in which insufficient areas are covered with anabrasive material that is itself insufficiently hard and sharp toaccommodate all of the jobs necessary in the device of the presentinvention. The Gryzll patent also discloses a mitten having the abrasivematerial over substantially the entire working surface, resulting in acumbersome, non-flexible device much like the Rytina and Woodburygloves.

U.S. Pat. No. 168,836 granted to H. L. Hall Oct. 19, 1875, discloses acloth glove having metal plates or disks as discrete abrading unitspositioned on each of the finger and thumb stalls as well as over thepalm of the glove. The Hall patent is difficult to manufacture, and ofcourse, would not be useful in a household function where the user willwet the glove. Providing metal plates or disks through a syntheticorganic resin would not be feasible since the resultant hole in theresin would tend to rip under tension resulting in the destruction ofthe glove. Other prior art devices are cited in the patent applicationof Albert A. Bianchi, Ser. No. 662,734, filed Mar. 1, 1976 for ABRASIVEGLOVE. However, all of the prior art cited in the Bianchi application aswell as the Bianchi application itself, presents problems either withthe particulate matter forming the abrasive resulting in a productunsuitable for use with food, such as disclosed in the Bianchi patent,or involves a normal cloth glove with a construction that is notsuitable for transfer to a synthetic organic resin or rubber glove.

In order to obviate all of the short comings of the prior art and toprovide a two-piece hand covering which is flexible, thereby allowingthe user to handle small items, such as potatoes, carrots and othersmall vegetables, while at the same time being capable of most heavyduty abrading uses, a hand covering or glove has been constructed inwhich individual discrete abrading units of one-piece molded syntheticorganic resin have been secured to the two-piece construction to enablethe entire hand covering or glove to be flexible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a two-piecehand covering, method for making same and abrading units for usetherewith for abrading large or small objects in which individualone-piece abrading units are positioned to provide adequate abradingareas, while at the same time maintaining flexibility of the handcovering.

A general object of the present invention is to provide a hand coveringcomprising a two-piece synthetic organic resin construction consistingof a front piece and a back piece sealed to the front piece at theperiphery thereof, a plurality of one-piece synthetic organic resinabrading units each having a generally flat rear surface and an abrasivefront surface, the rear surface of each of the abrading units beingsecured to the front piece of the two-piece construction, to provide atwo-piece hand covering with a plurality of abrading units thereon.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a two-piecesynthetic organic resin hand covering of the type set forth in which thehand covering is a glove and at least one of the two pieces thereof isvacuum formed to a three-dimensional shape simulating a hand havingseparate thumb and finger stalls.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method ofproducing a two-piece hand covering having abrading units thereon, themethod comprising providing a supply of pliable sheets of syntheticorganic resin, providing a supply of abrading units each having asubstantially flat rear surface and an abrasive front surface, sealingthe flat rear surface of a plurality of abrading units to one surface ofone of the pliable sheets, registering a second pliable sheet to theother surface of the one pliable sheet and sealing the second sheet tothe one sheet at the periphery thereof to form a two-piece hand coveringhaving a plurality of abrasive units thereon.

A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a method ofthe type set forth wherein at least some of the pliable sheets arevacuum formed to provide a hand-like shape having separate thumb andfinger portions so that one of the first and second sheets of eachtwo-piece unit is vacuum formed to a three-dimensional shape.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide anabrading unit comprising a rigid synthetic organic resin body having afront surface and a substantially flat rear surface, the front surfacehaving a plurality of discrete rigid cutting means extending therefrom.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an abradingunit of the type set forth wherein the cutting means consistsessentially of a plurality of cones extending outwardly of the frontsurface of each abrading unit with at least some of the cones having adifferent height than others of the cones.

These and other objects of the present invention may be more readilyunderstood by reference to the following specification taken inconjunction with the drawings, in which:

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view partly broken away of the front portion of a handcovering in the shape of a glove showing the placement of each abradingunit thereon;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the glove shown in FIG. 1 takenalong lines 2--2 in which the vacuum formed front and rear pieces are innesting relationship;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the glove shown in FIG. 1 takenalong lines 2--2 in which the vacuum formed front and rear pieces are inopposed relationship;

FIG. 3A is a cross sectional view of a glove in which the front piece isflat stock and the rear piece is vacuum formed;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged top plan view of an abrading unit illustrated inFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an end elevational view of the abrading units disclosed inFIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of an alternate embodiment of an abrading unitfor use with a glove of the type shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an end elevational view of the abrading unit illustrated inFIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic flow sheet of a method for making the two-piecehand covering illustrated in FIG. 1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, there is disclosed a two-piece handcovering in the shape of a glove 50 constructed of a front piece 51 anda rear piece 52 in registered relationship and sealed at a seam 55extending around the entire periphery thereof with the exception of theopening 56. The two-piece glove 50 includes a thumb 60 separate fingerstalls 61, 62, 63 and 64, a palm portion 65 and a cuff portion 66.

A plurality of abrading units 70 are strategically placed on thetwo-piece hand covering, with one abrading unit 70 preferably beingplaced on each finger section with the abrading units being disposed soas not to cross a joint line. Particularly, there are three abradingunits 70 positioned on each finger stall 61, 62, 63 and 64 to coincidewith the three sections on each finger. Two abrading units 70 arepositioned on the thumb 60 with one abrading unit 70 being near thedistal end of the thumb, particularly useful for gouging potato eyes andthe other abrading unit 70 being closer to the juncture of the thumb andthe palm 65. Three more abrading units 70 are positioned near the padadjacent the junction of the finger stalls 61, 62, 63 and 64 and thepalm 65, with one abrading unit 70 being substantially in registry withthe three abrading units on the first or index finger 61 and anotherabrading unit being located at the pad which is slightly between thesecond and third fingers 62 and 63 and the final abrading unit beingnear the pad adjacent the small finger 64. Five additional abradingunits 70 are positioned in the palm 65 with three of the units 70 beingacross the heel of the palm 65 for improved rubbing.

Each abrading unit 70 illustrated in FIG. 1 is identical inconstruction, but it is apparent that various designs may be intermixed,as preferred. Referring now to FIG. 4, there is disclosed an abradingunit 70 which is circular in plan view with a flat circular base 71having a front annular surface or flange 72 and a rear substantiallyflat surface 73. The front annular surface 72 defines an abrading area75 in its center, which is circular in plan view and contains thereinthe various abrading or cutting facets. Centrally located is anupstanding cone 80 having an apex 81, which is surrounded by a first rowof eight cones 82 each provided with an apex 83. The apex 81 of thecentral cone 80 extends beyond the apexes 83 of the eight cones 82.Spaced outwardly from the first row of cones 82 is a second row of halfcones 86, each provided with an apex 87 and since the cones 86 have beencut in half they are defined by a flat arcuate rear wall 88 with aportion 89 thereof interconnecting adjacent half cones 86. Each of theapexes 81, 83 and 87 is sharp and provides substantial abrasion in use.

Referring now to FIGS. 6 and 7, there is disclosed an alternateembodiment 100 of the abrading unit which is comprised of a flat ovatebase 101 having a front ovate flange surface 102 around the peripherythereof and a rear substantially flat surface 103. An oval abrading area105 is defined by the front ovate flange 102 and contains therein aplurality of cones 110 each having an apex 111. The cones 110 arearranged in three single rows with the cones being substantiallycontiguous. A plurality of scrapping bars 115 are disposed in theabrading area 105 and extend longitudinally of the abrading unit 100.Each of the scrapping bars 115 is provided with a knife edge 116 at thejuncture of upwardly sloping side walls 117, which are interconnected atthe base by wall portions 118. The scrapping bars 115 may be interleavedwith the rows of cones 110 or may be separate as shown.

The two-part hand construction 50 and more particularly the front piece51 and the back or rear piece 52 may be made from various syntheticorganic resin materials. Acceptable materials, but not an exhaustivelist, includes polyvinyl chloride, polyurethane, a combination of latexand polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene and polypropylene. The preferredmaterial is polyvinyl chloride as it is soft and pliable, has a goodhand, and is dielectrically heat sealable to provide good seams 55. Ifpolyvinyl chloride is not used and one of the other above-listedmaterials or equivalents thereof is used, then the seams may be providedby heat sealing, sonic welding or with appropriate adhesives. Whiledielectric sealing is preferred, since it is a cleaner and fasteroperation, other alternatives are available.

Each of the abrading units 70 or 100 consists of a one-piece moldedmember. Materials acceptable for the abrading units are in general,rigid or semi-rigid synthetic organic resins, such as polyvinylchloride, nylon, ABS, polypropylene, polystyrene, or linearpolyethylene. The preferred material is a vinyl or particularly apolyvinyl chloride since the abrading units may then be secured to thefront piece 51 of the two-piece glove 50 by dielectric heat sealing. Ifthe two-piece glove 50 is fabricated from a material other than a vinyl,then the abrading unit may also be other than a vinyl, since dielectricheat sealing will not ordinarily be possible. Methods of sealing thevarious synthetic organic resins applicable to the formation of thetwo-piece glove also applies to sealing the various abrading units tothe glove piece.

As disclosed, there are 22 abrading units 70 per two-piece glove 50;however, as few as 12 may be used. If only 12 abrading units 70 aresecured to the front piece 51 they would be located as follows, twounits per each finger 61-64, three units in the palm 65 and one abradingunit at the distal end of the thumb 60. Still fewer numbers of units 70may be provided if a larger abrading unit is provided in the palm 65.The principal rubbing action is obtained with the abrading units 70 onthe first three fingers 61, 62 and 63, and in the palm area 65. Theabrading units on the thumb 60 are principally used to gouge where heavyduty scrapping is required.

The circular shape of the abrading units 70 is preferred, since infabrication, as will be disclosed, the circular shape contributes toease of placement and prevents orientation problems. Other shapesacceptable are the elliptical or oval shape disclosed in FIGS. 6 and 7or rectangular shapes.

The preferred embodiment 70 of the abrading unit includes a circularabrading area 75 containing a plurality of cones 80, 82 and 86. Eachabrading unit 70 is a one-piece molded member, whereby no particulatematter forms the abrading unit to lodge in food and the like. The outerwall 88 of the half cones 86 defines the abrading area 75 and inpractice is a single unitary wall arcuate in shape and circular in planview. Each of the half cones 86 has an apex 87 which is sharp to providegood abrading characteristics. The row of cones 82 have bases which abutthe bases of the cones 86, the height of the cones 86 and 82 beingsubstantially the same. The central cone 80 extends upwardly beyond thecones 82 and 86 and has a base which abuts or is close to the bases ofthe cones 82, the base of cone 80 has a larger diameter than those ofcones 82 and 86. The draft on each of the cones 80, 82 and 86, preventsfood from clogging in the abrading units 70 and provides an importantfeature of the present invention. The abrading units 70 of the presentinvention are easy to clean by running under tap water. The peripheralflange 72 accommodates easy heat sealing whether it be sonic welding ordielectric heat sealing of the abrasive unit 70 to the front piece 51.Where an adhesive rather than heat sealing or dielectric sealing is usedto secure the abrading units 70 to the glove 50, the flange 72 is notneeded.

In the preferred construction, the circular abrading unit 70 has aflange diameter of one-half inch, which increases slightly aftersealing. The abrading area 75 is 3/8 inch in diameter and the coneheights for each of the cones 82 and 86 is 1/16 of an inch above thesurface 72. The center cone 80 has a height of 3/32 of an inch above asurface 72.

The dimensions of the alternate abrading unit 100 would be slightlygreater than the abrading unit 70; however, the cones 110 would beapproximately the same size as the cones 82. As seen from FIG. 7, thevertical height of both the bars 115 and the cones 110 would besubstantially the same as the vertical extent or height of the cones 82.

In lieu of the cones, prisms may be used. Cones however, are easier tomold and provide better draft to facilitate the cleaning of food andother debris from between the abrasive or cutting facets. In lieu of thestraight knife edge patterns shown, various herring bone patterns may beused, it being understood that the principal feature of the abradingunits 70 and 100 is the one-piece construction having a flat surface onthe rear for securing the unit to the front piece 51 of the handcovering 50 and an abrasive surface having cutting facets in a welldefined abrading area.

The two-piece hand covering 50 comprising a front piece 51 and a backpiece 52 is formed by placing in registry the two pieces and sealing theperiphery to form the seam 55. The preferred method of sealing isdielectric heat sealing, which requires that both the front piece 51 andthe rear piece 52 be vinyls with polyvinyl chloride being the preferredmaterial. To produce a better looking and easier product to use, atleast one of the front pieces 51 and the back pieces 52 should be vacuumformed to form a three-dimensional shape simulating a hand. The depth ofthe vacuum formed shape varies from about 1/2 inch at the finger tips toabout 3/4 inch across the knuckles to 1/2 inch at the cuff portion. Thevariation in thickness is to accommodate the thickness of a person'shand, which is thickest at the knuckles and thins down at both fingertips and rearwardly of the knuckles. If both the front piece 51 and therear piece 52 are vacuum formed, then alternate methods of registeringthe pieces may be used. The section disclosed in FIG. 2 illustrates twovacuum formed pieces 51 and 52 in nesting relationship, whereas FIG. 3illustrates two vacuum formed pieces 51 and 52 in opposed relationship.The construction illustrated in FIG. 3 most closely resembles a dippedor formed one-piece glove, whereas the construction shown in FIG. 2 iseasier to fabricate in high speed processes. It is also contemplatedthat only one of the pieces 51 and 52 need be vacuum formed.

Referring now to FIG. 8 of the drawings, there is disclosed a method ofmaking the hand covering 50. A supply of sheets 51 and 52 is providedwith at least some of the sheets being vacuum formed depending onwhether the construction as shown in FIGS. 2 or 3 is to be provided orwhether only one of the sheets 51 and 52 is to be vacuum formed. Asupply of the abrading units 70 or 100 is provided. A plurality of heatsealing tubes or dies is provided and arranged in the configuration ofthe abrading units on the hand covering 50. The abrading units 70 areloaded into the dies or tubes with the rear surfaces 73 thereofextending upwardly. A front piece 51 is placed in registry over the setof dies or tubes containing the abrading units 70 and the front piece 51and a platten is moved to provide pressure between the dies having theabrading units therein and the front piece 51. If the front piece 51 andthe abrading unit 70 are both vinyls, then dielectric heat sealing isemployed, and this is the preferred method. Thereafter, the rear piece52 is placed in registry with the front piece 51 and sealed at theperiphery thereof, again by heat sealing. If dielectric heat sealing isused, then the sheets 51 and 52 are severely weakened at points alongthe seam 55, and therefore, an operator may remove the excess of thesheet or flashing by means of tearing the flashing from the formedtwo-piece hand covering 50. The final operation is to stack the thusformed hand covering 50.

It is clear that different sheets will have to be used for the right andleft gloves if both pieces are vacuum formed. If only one piece isvacuum formed, then separate right and left pieces will be needed forthe vacuum formed piece, whereas only a common piece is needed for theunvacuum formed flat piece. It is also contemplated that the abradingunits 70 and 100 disclosed which are molded in one-piece may also beproduced by other methods such as dual durometer extrusion, whereinsimultaneous soft and hard plastics are molded and fused with the hardplastics later calendered to form the abrasive surface and the softplastics forming the support surface to be sealed, to the glove.

Critical features of the present invention reside in the provision of atwo-piece hand covering 50. The provision of two-pieces makes the entireproduction and sale of the item possible. When using a one-piece, formedor dipped glove of the latex type, the required method of fixingabrading units 70 is extremely time consuming and expensive, whereaswith the two-piece construction hereinbefore described an economicmethod of making same has been devised and disclosed herein. By workingwith only a one sheet or piece 51 when affixing the abrading units 70and 100 thereon, the entire construction is economical. By providing avacuum formed piece for at least one of the front and back pieces 51 and52, a shape similar to a dipped one-piece glove results without thedifficulties of adhering or securing the abrading units 70 to the dippedglove. Circular abrading units 70 are preferred since the loadingthereof into the heat sealing dies or tubes is facilitated and they maybe applied without any particular orientation problems.

The conical shape of the abrasive edges themselves is preferred, sincethe draft on the cones provides clearance to remove debris when thearticle is used for scrapping or peeling potatoes, carrots and the like.Smaller units are preferred since they may be strategically placedbetween joint lines of the hand.

A further critical feature of the present invention is the one-piecemolded nature of each abrading unit which completely obviates theproblem of loose granular material coming loose and lodging in foodcausing damage to the consumer. Many of the prior art devices previouslydescribed incorporate granular material in one form or the other, all ofwhich may eventually work loose and lodge in food. To this end, theone-piece molded abrading units 70 and 100 are a major advance in theart.

While there has been described what at present is considered to be thepreferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be appreciatedthat various alterations and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the true spirit and scope of the present invention and itis intended to cover in the appended claims all such alterations andmodifications. For instance, vacuum formed as used herein includesthermal formed and pressure formed.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hand covering comprising a synthetic organicresin front piece and back piece sealed at the peripheries thereofforming a hand holding envelope and an open ended gauntlet with a seamextending around the entire closed periphery thereof, at least one ofsaid front and back pieces having a predetermined three dimensionalformed shape, and a plurality of discrete one-piece synthetic organicresin abrading units each having a generally flat rear surface securedto said front piece and an abrasive front surface having a plurality ofdiscrete substantially rigid scraping means extending therefrom.
 2. Thehand covering of claim 1, wherein said first and second pieces aredielectrically heat sealable vinyls.
 3. The hand covering of claim 1,wherein the front piece is a low durometer polyvinyl chloride having athickness in the range of from about 9/100 of an inch to about 16/100 ofan inch.
 4. The hand covering of claim 1, wherein said front and backpieces are pliable vinyl and said abrading units are semi-rigid vinyl.5. The hand covering of claim 4, wherein the rear surfaces of saidabrading units are fused to said front piece.
 6. The hand covering ofclaim 1, wherein each abrading unit is a one-piece molded semi-rigidvinyl with cutting facets on the front surface thereof and with agenerally flat rear surface thereof.
 7. The hand covering set forth inclaim 1, wherein said front piece is a flat sheet and said rear piecehas a predetermined three dimensional shape.
 8. The hand covering setforth in claim 1, wherein said abrading units and particularly saidscraping means thereof each include outwardly extending cones.
 9. Thehand covering set forth in claim 1, wherein at least some of saidabrading units are circular in plan view with an annular flange free ofscraping means.
 10. The hand covering set forth in claim 1, wherein saidfront and back pieces cooperate to form a thumb stall normally in thesame plane as the remainder of said front and back pieces.
 11. Asynthetic organic resin glove comprising a front piece and a back piecesealed at the peripheries thereof forming a flexible hand holdingenvelope and an open-ended gauntlet with a seam extending around theentire closed periphery thereof, said envelope having a flexible palmportion, finger and thumb stalls with each of said finger stalls in usecovering three finger joint lines, at least one of said front and backpieces having a predetermined three dimensional formed shape, and aplurality of discrete one-piece synthetic organic resin abrading unitseach having a generally flat rear surface secured to said front piece onsaid palm portion, said finger and thumb stalls to permit free flexingthereof and an abrasive front surface having a plurality of discretesubstantially rigid scraping means extending therefrom.
 12. The gloveset forth in claim 11, wherein said thumb stall is normally coplanarwith said finger stalls.
 13. The glove set forth in claim 11, whereinsaid front piece is a flat sheet and said rear piece has a predeterminedthree dimensional shape.
 14. The glove set forth in claim 11, wherein atleast some of said abrading units are circular in plan view with anannular flange free of scraping means.
 15. The glove set forth in claim11, wherein the abrading units are integral with said front piece. 16.The glove set forth in claim 11, wherein the distance between said frontand back pieces is greater at the juncture of said finger stalls and thepalm portion than at the distal ends of said finger stalls and saidgauntlet.
 17. The glove set forth in claim 11, wherein both of saidfront piece and said back piece have a three-dimensional shapesimulating a hand having separate thumb and finger stalls.
 18. The gloveset forth in claim 11, wherein both of said front piece and said backpiece have a three-dimensional shape simulating a hand having separatethumb and finger stalls secured one to the other at the peripherythereof in nesting relationship.
 19. The glove set forth in claim 11,wherein both of said front piece and said back piece have athree-dimensional shape simulating a hand having separate thumb andfinger stalls secured together around the periphery thereof in opposedrelationship.
 20. The glove set forth in claim 11, wherein both of saidfront piece and said back piece are polyvinyl chloride dielectricallyheat sealed one to the other at the periphery thereof; and wherein saidabrading units are semi-rigid polyvinyl chloride dielectrically heatsealed to said front piece.
 21. The glove set forth in claim 11, whereinsaid abrading units have points or edges functioning as scraping facets.22. The glove set forth in claim 11, wherein each of said abrading unitshas a plurality of cones thereon with the points of said cones extendingoutwardly from the front of said glove.
 23. The glove set forth in claim11, wherein some of said abrading units are provided only with coneshaving the points or apexes thereof extending outwardly from said gloveand others of said abrading units are provided with knife edges toprovide scraping facets.